It has been a busy spring for Latino Roots! Since our last update, the panels traveled to Eugene 4J Awbrey Park Elementary School, where they were installed for 2 ½ months and central to two events: a Latino Parents Night, and a Multi-cultural Night. Panels were installed in the cafeteria as well as the main office, and were well received by the campus community.

In February, the panels traveled to the Oregon Association of Latino Administrators Conference (OALA), hosted this year at Portland State University. The mission of OALA is to “create a vehicle to support and mentor Latino Administrators as well Latino educators who aspire to become administrators in the State of Oregon.”

In addition to installing the panels in the main entryway, our project coordinator was present to hand out flyers, booklets, and answer questions.

In March, the Latino Roots Panels were on display at Eugene 4J Kelly Middle School’s annual Benito Juarez Celebration. Pictured here are José Luis Sámano and Ema Pérez in front of their panel with family members. The event is a well-attended celebration with food, music, and a community vibe. After the event, the panels were installed throughout the school where they are viewable by the school community throughout the school week, and will remain in place for several more weeks. Half of the panels are installed near the Spanish block classrooms, where immersion teachers are working with students to engage the panels.

A partial installation of the Latino Roots Panels also continues to travel with Oportunidades coordinator Antonio Huerta. So far this year, the panels have been seen by over 450 students in Salem, Portland, and Woodburn.

In addition to traveling the panels, our Latino Roots Project Coordinator has been tabling at many events, and is beginning to meet with groups to talk about the project. In March, our coordinator was invited to speak in a Qualitative Methods class at the University of Oregon about the project, sharing both the message and the importance of the method. In late April she will meet with GANAS Leadership Students at Kelly Middle School to facilitate a conversation about the information in the panels.

Finally, the Latino Roots Panels themselves have been viewed by well over 50,000 people throughout the state, and are showing significant wear and tear. As a result, we are in the process of preparing them for reprint by the end of this academic year. The new panels will be printed on a canvas banner, and we will be adding new panels using information from the Latino Roots Archives, housed in Special Collections at the University of Oregon.

To book the panels, provide feedback, or brainstorm ideas about how you or your organization can utilize the project, please contact Latino Roots Project Coordinator Tamara LeRoy at cllasprojects@uoregon.edu.